New Tyres - Opinions and Help Needed

Simona · #1

Hello boyzzzz :)

I want buy new tyres for 17" Alu wheels AMG and because is here a lot car fans, i dont doubt, that someone have experience with following tyres and all your advices are welcome!

So..i have two options, size what i need is 225/45/17" - for AMG Alu wheel disk´s what i have :

Dunlop SP Sport 9000

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... Sport+9000

Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3

http://www.blackcircles.com/tyres/goodyeartest

I´m really confused from following things:
Someone told me, that these Dunlop´s are best on the water, because they work on water like a turbine - kick water to sides and car is more aquaplaning resistant, someone told me that these Goodyear´s are not only best on the water, but they have longer life, someone told me that these Dunlops are not good for higher speed (more loud), someone told me the same about Goodyear´s..so i dont know..
It seem these Goodyear´s look really sci-fi and strange :)
Price is the same, both..
Its for Mercedes CLK 3,5liter AMG Kompressor,220kW - problem is now, that tyres, what are now on the car, aren´t good, Firestone Firehawk SZ 80, so--65%life they have now, they are balanced ok, air ok, i dont know if its problem all flat tyres or not, true is - they are hard like a beton! when air is right in the tyres..- and on the water, car is really dangerously "swimming" like ****! Thats basic reason for new and another tyres...in the rain you have feeling, that you are driving surf! not car..

Edited:
Present Firestone SZ80 225/45/17" :

They wrote, Firestone, that they are on wet way excellent, IT TURN ME ON!btw.one technician from Mercedes said, that behaviour of the car is really very strange on wet way, he tested it on wet highway (im glad, that i survive it..) and he was very surprised, what car is swimming.. - after they controled: balance of tyres, air, tyres detailed expected- all is "ok" by their opinions,tyres, but..no result.

If you have some experiences or advices, post it please, thanks!

spd9075 · #2

Hey there Simona! Well, from the information you gave and the choices you've narrowed it down to, My vote would be for the Goodyear. In my experience, Dunlop tends to use a stiffer compound...making the tire somewhat noisey, but usually prolonging the wear life. Goodyear tends to use a softer compound in their Eagle series...which helps the tire to "stick" better and in turn, makes the ride a little quieter and wet performance better, but sometimes sacrifices tread life (depending on how it's driven). Both have the same speed rating....."Z" which means it was designed to handle speeds above 149 mph/240 kph, so the speed thing really wouldn't be a concern in my opinion. In the US, the Eagle F1 is a EMT tire...meaning Extended Mobility Tire...or "run flat". This means the side walls are reinforced so that in the event of a flat while driving, the tire will sustain the weight of the vehicle long enough to safely pull over to change it or make it to a nearby station. I didn't find anthing on this version of the Goodyear when searching online, but it may be a EMT tire as well. If it is, thats a plus for saftey...and if you do have a flat, the EMT tire is designed to keep you from driving on the rim of the wheel...saving you from buying an expensive wheel. Either way, my vote would still be for the Goodyear.

I hope this helps your decision. I'll keep looking these two up...if I find anything else on them, I'll let you know!

Take care!

Edit: Ok..from what I've seen, The GSD3 is not an EMT tire, but from reading about it, I'm still impressed. Although I'm sure the Dunlop has it's good points, too. I'll keep looking! :D

Simona · #3

Goodyear? aaaha... many thanks for info!

DamnYank! · #4

do you have a spare or do you have to run 'run flats'?

what kind of weather conditions do these need to perform in?

what are your driving preferences (handling or comfort, etc)?

xdrewsiferx · #5

I look alot at tiers but yea whats the top speed that you drive, again weather, dose road noise bother you, how long do you want them to last, and what are you looking to spend?

xdrewsiferx · #6

The good years are my vote of the ones up there. only thing to rember is i ran thrugh a set in less then 10,000 miles :D

severedthumbs · #7

I would go with Pirelli.

http://www.us.pirelli.com/en_US/tyres/c ... ctid=17429

J Smith · #8

Well my truck is not anywhere close to what you have but I just put Dunlops on replaceing the Goodyear Eagles that were on it.
The Goodyears were good tires but wear out very fast(price to pay for high performance).
I wanted to go with Michelin but 800.00 for a set was a little to high for me.The Goodyears just like the ones that came on it were 289.99 each,way to high for that tire.
I went with the Dunlops because I have heard good things about them plus the fact that the place I got them from(a Goodyear dealer) was not going to carry them any more so he let me have the set of 4 mounted balanced plus a 4 wheel alinment for 590.00 tax and all.So far the performance of the Dunlops have been just as good as the Goodyears
BTW the Goodyears on mine were a 245/65x16,the Dunlops I replaced them with was a 235/75x16 basicly the Dunlops were 10mm taller and 10mm narrower.

DamnYank! · #9

i would recommend checking out http://www.tirerack.com

you can search by tire size and read reviews, specs, test results, etc.

i would stay away from goodyear, michelin; i believe they are greatly overpriced for what you get.

i run the same size on my STi (225/45/17) and on my previous WRX so i've read up a fair amt on different performing tires in that size.

MacTech · #10

the tread profile of the Goodyears appear to be designed more around dry-pavement grip, i'd hazard a guess they'd be pretty squirrely in the wet, and absolutely *useless* in the snow

the Dunlops look to have a far better wet weather tread pattern, more spaces to pump water out of the contact patch, but just like the Goodyears, absolutely *useless* in the snow

if you can't tell, i'm a very strong proponent of dedicated snow tires if you're in an area that gets snow, of course with Spring conditions on the way, you won't need to think about snows until next season

given the choice between the two you've listed, i'd go with the Dunlops, and i'm a Goodyear guy myself, the GY's you linked to though do not fill me with confidence about their wet traction, if you were to put the goodyears on a car you drive only on dry days and/or just in competitions, i'm sure they'd be great, but for a daily driver, wet performance is important

boxer93 · #11

Like damnyank! I would reccomend the tire rack website for reviews.
I can't help with your choices. I have used Michelins for 20 years until I replaced my current ones with Yokohama's. Half the price with a better snow rating. Except this year I did opt for dedicated studded snows. Best insurance in the winter.
YMMV
Chris

xdrewsiferx · #12

If you can find them my fav tire EVER made was the Yokohama AVS intermediate they stopped production on them about 3 years ago but they were by far the best tire i have ever owned except for my full race super soft compound track tires.

Simona · #13

Thanks to all for very valuable infos!

Yes, Dunlop will be probably better choice than GoodYear, but im really very curious, if car "swimming" on the wet way will be removed, when tyres will be changed...

I got offer from MBenz today by phone, they will lend me for one week alu disks with tyres Bridgestone (i dont know exactly which, but same size 225/45/17 and 255/40/17 back), next week will be rainy, by weather report, and they gave me great offer try another tyres on wet way
They said too, that there is mistake: all 4 AMG Alu wheels have tyres 225/45/17, but on the back must be 255/40/17, because AMG Alu wheels back are more wide and designed for 255/40/17, so i dont know..., but they said, that all same sizes is too good and this is NO reason for swimming on wet,so i dont know... :confused:
They told me too, thats this "swimming" is probably combination with 225/45/17 back and some ASP and EDP ("antisomething" **** know what is it..) techology in the car.
Interesting is, that in computer in the car, in setup, is preset tyres 225 front and 255 behind, when i tried change it, i got some **** red warning, that this change of tyres data can make problem with car in higher speed and change behaviour, and some next red warning baloneys about compressor output and gps navigation (really i dont know what have to do compressor and navigation with tyres, but ok...) so i leave it rather...